St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-09
TOO MANY LOSSES.
The North Star Mutual Insurance
Company VIII Quit Business.

Company Will Quit Business.
The North Star Mutual Insurance
company, of st. Paul, yesterday applied
for the appointment of a receiver. The
hearing will take place in the district
court at 10Sa. m. tomorrow. The cause
of the present action being taken is the
great number of losses the company has
sustained in the past sixty days. In
Surance Com missioner Shandrew says
that every liability of the concern will
be paid in full, as under the law the
parties who have given their notes are
liable to be assessed for the full amount.
This action on our part was entirely
voluntary" said Secretary and General
Manager j. &. Kimball to a representa-
tive of the GLOBE last evening. 1T
was shown that the losses had been
phenomenal in the history of insurance
for the past six months, and we thought
1t better to wind up our affairs when we
could do so honorably and pay in full
without resorting to any disreputable
means to keep our company afioat. We
have been organized about eighteen
months, and up to the latter part of
June, 1887, when we submitted state
ment to Insurance Commissioner Shan
drew, there was but one unpaid loss,
something less than 81 900, on our books
Then followed
A DISASTROUS SEASON
between the 9th and 31St of August. and
within that period losses aggregating
over $4,000 accumulated against US.
This was to much for a company to
bear whose charter only required it to
have S10,O00in cash on hand, and we
decided to go out of business and refuse
any further policies or entanglements.
All the details of the matter were care
fully gone over by the board of direct
OrS day or two ago, resulting in the
unanimous adoption of the following
resolution:
Resolved, That, after going into thorough
investigation of the affairs of this company,
II has been found impracticable to realize
upon our resources in time to meet due and
maturing obligations. We, therefore, sus-
pend payment of all liabilities from this
date, and decline all policies of insurance
offered.
'sFor the first year of our business we
were very successful, and were enabled
to declare dividend of 10 per cent. and
this, despite the fact that we were
called upon to pay out upwards of $780,
600 in losses. According to an investi-
CATION of our affairs the face value of
our assets is $l29, 057.19, while the liza
bilitieS, including adjusted losses and
notices of losses, will not amount to
more than 100000 in round numbers.
The policyholderS of our company were
distributed principally over the states
of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and COM
prlSed the leading mill owners, manu-
facturerS and elevator proprietOrS of
the Northwest. According to our regu-
1atlOnS few risks were taken in excess
OF $500, but to show the ill-luck that
attended our venture when we went up
to our maximum, 5000, in the cases of
the st. Anthony Elevator company and
Isaac Staples, we had to pay both of
these amounts on account of fires.
There was some talk of turning over the
assets of the company to some other
and more fiourishing corporation. but
the outlook for business was not very
encouraging, and so that scheme was
abandoned. Every policyholder in our
company will be paid every cent that is
justly due him, and in order to accom-
pllsh this 1T may be necessary to make
an assessment upon the makers of the
premium notes that constituted the
basis of our operations.
THE DIRECTORS.
Inc directors of our company at present
arr: II. A. Taylor, president OF the hudson
LUMBER company, of Madison. Wis: F. H
Barnard, of Barnard Brothers & Cape, Min
neapoIs; R; G. Libbey, lumberman, Hastings,
-hilII. , NcpHaTu Donn, Bonn manufacturing
company, of st. Paul; J. E. Glover, lumber
man, ST Paul: j: B. Chapman, of Corlies.
Chapman d Drake, st. Paul; C. E. Keller
I1nmDerman, st. Paul, and j. G. Kimball, st.
No question can be raised as to the
ability to pay and responsibility for
losses OF such combination of business
men, and l repeat that our sole object
IN asking for receiver is to wind up an
Improbable venture We have oSlrad
that H. S. Finn shall be appointed to
administer our affairs, since he. is con-
versant with all the details of our bust
ness, and Commissioner Shandrew CON
slders him i'll every way qualified to per-
form the duty.